Canary in the Mine

Today was not a day for good news. It's not hard to see a link between these items:

The risk of severe droughts capable of crippling farmers and horticulturists could increase fourfold in eastern New Zealand over the next 75 years.

Petrol prices have bounded to a record high, lurking just under $1.30 for each litre of standard-grade fuel.

Taxpayers will be at least $1 billion worse off under revised Government estimates of the costs of the Kyoto treaty to combat global warming.

Computer security problems keep rolling on. Now Adobe Acrobat and Reader (which I can almost guarantee are on your computer) have been found to have a problem. Adobe Systems on Wednesday rolled out patches for security vulnerabilities found in Adobe Reader 7.0 and 7.0.1 and in Adobe Acrobat 7.0 and 7.0.1. The hole in the products under certain circumstances allows XML scripts to be used to discover a user's local files. You can download patches from here:
http://adobe.com/support/downloads

What on earth is government doing getting into managing investment? Under new rules to "attract" investor-migrants, the minimum amount to be invested has been doubled from $1 million to $2 million and the funds must be handed over to the Government for five years to invest in infrastructure projects. Investors will receive their money back at the end of that period with interest based on the inflation rate. [Boy, that will really attract them.]

"For centuries, aspiring artists got their starts by observing and practicing what professional artists did inside their workshops. After mastering enough skills, they would then head off on their own. Modern art, starting in the middle of the 19th century, changed all that by calling into question what constitutes a work of art. Art began manifesting two things in tandem -- radicality for its own sake and self-expression. Aspiring artists no longer needed to go to workshops or studios to become artists because being avant-garde and self-expressive did not depend on learning crafts, techniques, or studio methods. Now, however, a tug of war is going on over what exactly constitutes an artistic identity. The result is that art education ... has become a hodgepodge of attitudes, self-expression, news bulletins from hot galleries, and an almost random selection of technical skills that cannot help but leave most art students confused about their ultimate purpose as artists.

Ordering pizza in 2008: This is so close to what is probably going to be happening in 2008 that I'm not sure how funny it really is.

Operator: Thank you for calling Pizza Hut. May I have your national ID number?

Customer: Hi, I'd like to place an order.

Operator: I must have your NIDM first, sir.

Customer: My National ID Number, yeah, hold on, eh, it's 6102049998-45-54610.

Operator: Thank you Mr. Sheehan. I see you live at 1742 Meadowland Drive, and the phone number is 494-2366. Your office number over at Lincoln Insurance is 745-2302 and your cell number is 266-2566. Email address is sheehan@home.net Which number are you calling from sir?

Customer: Huh? I'm at home. Where'd you get all this information?

Operator: We're wired into the HSS, sir.

Customer: The HSS, what is that?

Operator: We're wired into the Homeland Security System, sir.
This will add only 15 seconds to your ordering time.

Customer: (sighs) Oh well, I'd like to order a couple of your All-Meat Special pizzas.

Operator: I don't think that's a good idea, sir.

Customer: Whaddya mean?

Operator: Sir, your medical records and commode sensors indicate that you've got very high blood pressure and extremely high cholesterol. Your National Health Care provider won't allow such an unhealthy choice.

Customer: What?!?! What do you recommend, then?

Operator: You might try our low-fat Soybean Pizza. I'm sure you'll like it.

Customer: What makes you think I'd like something like that?

Operator: Well, you checked out 'Gourmet Soybean Recipes' from your local library last week, sir. That's why I made the suggestion.

Customer: All right, all right. Give me two family-sized ones, then.

Operator: That should be plenty for you, your wife and your four kids, and your 2 dogs can finish the crusts, sir. Your total is $49.99.

Customer: Lemme give you my credit card number.

Operator: I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid you'll have to pay in cash. Your credit card balance is over its limit.

Customer: I'll run over to the ATM and get some cash before your driver gets here.

Operator: That won't work either, sir. Your checking account is overdrawn also.

Customer: Never mind! Just send the pizzas. I'll have the cash ready How long will it take?

Operator: We're running a little behind, sir. It'll be about 45 minutes, sir. If you're in a hurry you might want to pick 'em up while you're out getting the cash, but then, carrying pizzas on a motorcycle can be a little awkward.

Customer: Wait! How do you know I ride a scooter?

Operator: It says here you're in arrears on your car payments, so your car got repo'ed. But your Harley's paid for and you just filled the tank yesterday.

Customer: Well, I'll be a #%#^^&$%^$@#

Operator: I'd advise watching your language, sir. You've already got a July 4, 2003 conviction for cussing out a cop and another one I see here in September for contempt at your hearing for cussing at a judge. Oh yes, I see here that you just got out from a 90 day stay in the State Correctional Facility. Is this your first pizza since your return to society?

Customer: (speechless)

Operator: Will there be anything else, sir?

Customer: Yes, I have a coupon for a free 2-liter of Coke.

Operator: I'm sorry sir, but our ad's exclusionary clause prevents us from offering free soda to diabetics. The New Constitution prohibits this. Thank you for calling Pizza Hut.

"In better days our state did not dream of claiming a monopoly on the right to enforce the law," says Stephen Franks. "The right of Citizen's Arrest is written into the Crimes Act, to the embarrassment of the police who keep urging people never to use it. Enforcing the law is a right and was, only a short time ago, a responsibility of every able-bodied person. It is time we challenged that smug judicial pronouncement "I can't allow you to take the law into your own hands".

There was a slight drop in the number of abortions carried out last year - 18,210 - compared with 2003. But that is still 18,210 babies murdered, the second-highest figure on record. To quote Statistics NZ: "On the basis of the 2004 age-specific abortion rates, 1,000 New Zealand women could expect to have 637 induced abortions during their reproductive life." Right To Life spokesman Ken Orr thinks the fall may be due to the big downturn in Asian students coming to New Zealand.

There is some very strange logic in United Future Peter Dunne's thinking. He is blaming Labour for attacking "traditional kiwi values", and says National is stuck in a 90s "time warp". NZ First are populists and the Greens extremist. So vote for United Future. Now hold on: how will voting for UF stop Labour attacking traditional kiwi values? For the past three years UF has been intimately involved with Labour, and if that has not stopped the Labour attack, why should another three years of partnership do the same? UF will never be more than a small centrist party, with its only hope of political power being as a tack-on to a major party. If it changes sides and slings in its lot with National, how will UF change National any more than it has changed Labour? I can understand UF's dislike of NZ First and the Greens (funny, Dunne didn't mention Act); but the likelihood is that at least one of these parties will be a party to the next government. So UF would have to work with them if it wants to be a part of the power bloc. But why should either NZ First or the Greens (either of whom will have more seats than UF) take the blindest notice of UF? The reality is that small parties like UF will only ever have an influence around the peripheries.

The Church of Christ in the United States is preparing to vote next month on a measure declaring that Jesus Christ is the Lord, and making it mandatory for clergy to accept his divinity -- and it may be lost!! Opponents say it is too judgemental!

A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that the State's constitution does not require the recognition of gay marriage, rejecting the efforts of seven same-sex couples who sued the state to allow them to marry.

It used to be that the longest unprotected border in the world was that between the United States and Canada. Today it's the one between fact and fiction. [The Da Vinci Code] points up something critical. We're happier to swallow a half-baked Renaissance religious conspiracy theory than to examine the historical fiction we're living (and dying for) today.

"In a far off time, in the confederacy of Oz, teaching and learning coexisted in an artistically symbiotic relationship. Then the experts came along. No, not experts in educational theory, but experts in the art of Isms – scientific rationalism, reductionism, Fordism, Taylorism, sophism, postmodernism and above all, obscurantism. They took their Isms and applied them to the art of education, and lo and behold, outcomes-based education was born. The Ismistic parents cooed and gloated over their cleverly conceived offspring. In fact, the Ismites within one state of the confederacy hailed this birth as a watershed in education, a paradigm shift, and the dawning of a brave new era. “Let us devise a Curriculum Framework” they shouted with glee. The teachers, however, hung their heads in despondency, knowing that a dark beast of mammoth proportions and with great deceptive power had been created." ~ From "The Death of Knowledge", Richard G. Berlach, College of Education, University of Notre Dame Australia

Apparently it is illegal to sell your vote (see yesterday's briefing). According to Morning Report, TradeMe has pulled the auction - it only got one $2 bid anyway. Guess politicians will have to go back to buying votes the way they always have. (There's an interesting parallel with the position that prostitution formerly had in New Zealand: it was legal to buy, but illegal to sell. Some would say there's not much difference between politics and prostitution - guess that proves it.)

The Maori Party has no doubts that the government's proposed land access bill is an attack on property rights.

A political consensus is said to be emerging between Labour and National on the need to overhaul the "smacking" law. Both apparently agree parents have a right to smack their children but the existing law is being used in some cases to protect parents who used serious abuse as a form of discipline. But the consensus does not guarantee the likelihood of a law change, especially just before an election.

Microsoft has admitted that it is colluding with the Chinese government to censor the company's newly launched Chinese-language Web portal. Agence France-Presse, the French news agency, earlier revealed that bloggers are not allowed to post terms to Microsoft's MSN Spaces such as "democracy," "human rights" and "Taiwan independence." Attempts to enter those words are said to generate a message saying the language was prohibited.

"The AIDS crisis [in Africa] is about evil. It's about the small gangs of predatory men who knowingly infect women by the score without a second thought in the world. The AIDS crisis is about the sanctity of life. It's about people who have come to so undervalue their own life that ruinous behavior seems unimportant and death is accepted fatalistically. It's about disproportionate suffering. It's about people who commit minor transgressions, or even no transgressions, and suffer consequences too horrible to contemplate."

When city officials contact urban expert Joel Kotkin for guidance on how to attract people back into city centres, they often ask about things that make him cringe. Instead of improving schools or infrastructure, they want to construct performing arts centers and pump up cultural offerings to lure the artsy and the hip. That's not the way to revitalize cities, argues Mr. Kotkin, author of "The City: A Global History." To him, attracting and keeping people in urban environments is less about projecting an image of "cool" and more about providing the basics that encourage and support a strong middle class: jobs, schools, churches.

I can understand why people are lazy about computer security. It is an incredible hassle keeping your machine up-to-date with the latest software patches and security fixes. But here's what can happen when you don't (the article is also a good pointer to what to do if your computer is badly infected).

A report that claimed virginity pledge programs don't work, and the teens who pledge abstinence are more likely to engage in riskier sex, falsified the data.

Batman Begins is about to hit the cinemas. Here's an interesting piece looking at the psychology of one of pop culture's greatest icons. "Batman, the only fully human superhero, usually saves the day, but sometimes he doesn't. We can forgive him these occasional failures, but can he forgive himself? More importantly, can he save himself?"

Tail-out: How would you like to be made into a diamond after your death? It's just one of the range of odd options now available to dispose of your earthly remains.

Helen Clark says if we want to talk about a fixed date for every election, then we should also talk about a four-year government. [Would you want a rampant Labour government to have a four-year term in which to do more damage? Kiwis have already said several times in the past a four-year term is not on.]

Meantime, political parties worried about their poll standings have been handed a solution - purchase votes at TradeMe. Here's one up for sale. "Since I am entirely apathetic about the result, and really don't see any great difference between either of the two parties that will inevitably be forming the next government, I have decided to sell MY VOTE. So, you are bidding on ONE GENUINE VOTE in the 2005 New Zealand General Election. I live, and am registered to vote, in the Central Wellington Electorate. I reserve the right to reject any bids from Destiny Church or National Front Fans. All others are OK..."

Are we beginning to see a pattern here? A Christchurch school will review its decision to allow weekly Bible studies classes for children as young as six after complaints from parents. Note: a) there were only 2 complaints. b) the classes have been running for years. c) parents have the right to withdraw children from the classes. d) Few bother to exercise that right. But all of a sudden, across New Zealand, we must excise any taint of religious association with school.

But talk about taking religion into the public square! German immigration officials will apply a searching religious test to tourists entering the country for the Pope’s first pilgrimage abroad. The German authorities are fearful that thousands of illegal immigrants, including drugs and prostitution racketeers, could use the country’s fast-lane visa regulations to enter the country. With more than a million believers expected to hear Pope Benedict XVl address the World Youth Conference in August, German embassies have devised a questionnaire of biblical and Roman Catholic knowledge for apparent pilgrims. Although respondents only need to answer 70 per cent of questions correctly, The Times newspaper (UK) found that many infrequent churchgoers struggled to name the sacraments or to count and name the different kinds of sin, as defined by the Vatican.

The Prime Minister is really working hard to ride two horses at once over smacking. On the one hand, she wants Section 59 of the Crimes Act (which permits a parent to use reasonable force in disciplining a child) to be repealed, on the other hand she wants parents to be allowed to continue smacking children. Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Children wants a debate on smacking.

Which raises a question: what exactly constitutes a public debate on smacking, or any other contentious topic? Do letters to the newspaper suffice? Is it via submissions to a parliamentary select committee? Who controls the debate; who mediates it; who decides which side has won? Pardon me for being cynical, but I don't recall a "public debate" of any sort in recent years which was carried by anything but emotion and ideology.

The Prime Minister has backed away from another confrontation over the seabed and foreshore before the election. She has pulled the plug on Nanaia Mahuta's private members bill that would extend legal aid for foreshore and seabed cases.

Colin James says Don Brash's arguments for a tax cut are very potent. "Debt-fuelled spending powered [Michael] Cullen's boom. House prices bubbled, people borrowed to buy houses at the higher prices - and to buy cars, fridges, clothes, meals out and the fripperies of modern affluence." The Reserve Bank calculates average household debt is around 140 per cent of disposable (after-tax) income, up from 130 per cent a year ago and 60 per cent in 1990. Household debt went up 15 per cent in 2004.

The New Zealand dollar is overpriced by 4%, if you are to believe the Big Mac index. This only slightly tongue-in-cheek international comparison of currencies against the price of a burger, compiled by The Economist, is surprisingly accurate.

Nearly 75 per cent of 18- to 19-year-olds breath-tested as they left licensed premises were too drunk to drive, a survey revealed yesterday. The first New Zealand survey of young drinkers leaving licensed premises examined the drinking habits of 18- to 25-year-olds, with sobering results. Of those aged 20 to 24 years, 42 per cent were also over the legal limit. [But as has been pointed out elsewhere, tightened rules for alcohol levels mean two drinks could put you over the limit. Unfortunately, the story does not give definitions.]

Tail-out: If you're old enough, you will remember the children's book Little Black Sambo. Villified as being beyond-the-pale racist, it has been out of print (and off the library shelves) for decades. Now Little Black Sambo has been resuscitated - in Japan.

Several key election issues were defined at the weekend. National Party leader Don Brash promises that all personal taxation will be cut from next April if National leads the next Government. And issues of property rights and land access are looming to be big this election. Farmers and rural property owners are very uptight about government plans to give the public right of access to waterways, etc. It's a question of whose right is more right. Labour Party MP Nanaia Mahuta meanwhile has drawn up a law change to extend legal aid cover to seabed and foreshore claims, a direct slap in the face of the agreement with NZ First. Opponents say it's another example of a provision for Maori denied to pakeha.
Today's parents of young children go to work to survive, would like to grill Prime Minister Helen Clark on her policies and are not afraid to buy their clothes from The Warehouse. A lifestyle study by McCann Pulse also shows that women with children aged up to 5 are sick of political correctness, would like to have coffee with Keanu Reeves and admire director Peter Jackson.
The teaching of reading in British schools is to return to the phonics method largely abandoned in the 1960s in favour of such approaches as "look and say", which is based on the appearance of words rather than spelling and sounding them out. Education Secretary Ruth Kelly has set up a review panel headed by former senior inspector Jim Rose, who co-authored a report in 1992 calling for a return to traditional teaching methods. A recent study in the county of Clackmannanshire by Rhona Johnston and Joyce Watson conclusively demonstrated the long-term benefits of synthetic phonics.
Liberal German parents who are tolerant about sex, drugs and rock and roll are driving their kids into the arms of right-wing extremists, according to a long article in Der Spiegel magazine. Increasing numbers of young people are adopting a kind of neo-Nazi fashion code, buying banned CDs and attending right-wing rock concerts and rallies. Most become part of the scene through music. Young people interviewed resented the presence of immigrant groups from Russia, Albania and Turkey because of aggression (from some Russian-born Germans), unemployment and welfare issues. Parents "don't have a clue", they said, and the police "don't care" about violent gangs. One boy told of a camping trip where his mother, who is "more to the left", got upset because he and his friends flew a German flag from their tent - just as Dutch, British and Hungarians were flying their flags. "We're not allowed to be patriots," he said. "We're not allowed to be proud of our country, but they are."
Public trust of newspapers and television news has reached an all-time low, according to an annual Gallup survey. Confidence in the content found in newspapers declined from a 37 percent level of trust in 2000 to just 28 percent this year. The level of trust in television news dropped from 36 percent to 28 percent in the same time period. Twenty-four percent said they have "very little" confidence in printed news.
Sex with other people now doesn't mean you're unfaithful. Here are the new rules of dating ... and infidelity -- really!!?? 1: When asking someone out, make it absolutely clear you are after a date. Otherwise you could end up becoming just friends by accident. And that's no use to anyone. 2: It is OK for girls to ask boys out as long as they obey rule 1. Ambiguous invitations are just flirting. 3: If you have set up a date by text message, call on the day to confirm. It proves you've got guts. 4: But it's OK to call when you know someone won't answer so you can leave a message. 5: When sending emails at work, imagine CC-ing your partner. If he/she wouldn't be amused, you're flirting. Stop it. 6: Text message exchange that goes on throughout the day is definitely flirtation. Otherwise why wouldn't you just speak on the phone? Don't come over all innocent. 7: If you sleep with someone on the first date, don't say: 'I don't normally do this.' Of course you do. 8: Boys - If you actually like someone and then you sleep with them, call them the next day. Otherwise you are a bastard. 9: Girls - If you sleep with someone and he didn't call the next day, he is almost certainly a bastard. 10: If you are not being monogamous you have to tell your partners. 11: If they say that's OK, but that at some stage they would like a monogamous relationship with you they are lying about it being OK at all. They just don't want to lose you. 12: Being drunk is not an excuse for infidelity. 13: Being so drunk you don't remember is still not an excuse, but at least the hangover serves as partial punishment. 14: If you have been seeing someone for more than three months assume it is a monogamous relationship unless otherwise stated. 15: If you have been with someone for more than 15 years assume it is not a monogamous relationship unless otherwise stated.
A new poll surveying religious opinions across different countries has some interesting results. Americans are far more likely to consider religion central to their lives and to support giving religious leaders a say in public policy than people in nine countries that are close allies - especially France, according to a poll conducted by Ipsos for The Associated Press. Only 2 percent of Americans said they did not believe in God, compared with 6 percent in Italy, 11 percent in Australia, 16 percent in the UK and 19 percent in France. Asked whether religion was important or not important in their lives (or whether they were unsure), 84 percent of Americans said it was important, compared with 80 percent in Italy, 55 percent in Australia, 43 percent in the UK and 37 percent in France. On the question of whether religious leaders should try to influence government decisions, the "yes" percentages were: US 37, Italy 30; Australia 22; UK 20; France 12.
Tail-out: Well, here's a new twist -- a party of atheists who want to do away with evolution. "A Green world where extinction is an outdated term".